The New and Improved Recommendation - Fantasy / Horror

Ground rules:
This thread will be open for discussion
If you have a question about an author or book, you can ask it here
If you recommend a book, please give the author's full name and the full title

Popular Authors such as George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, Robert Jordan, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jim Butcher, David Eddings, Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Scott Bakker, Raymond Feist and David Gemmell have quite a few threads dedicated to them, so plunk their name in the SEARCH function to see what others have said about these popular authors.

Fantasy/horror authors often write different types of fantasy, as well as SF, mystery and other types of fiction. Fantasy encompasses every thing from magic realism to media tie-ins, and we encourage members to discuss any sort of fantasy that interests them, not just those works from genre publishers. Horror sometimes is not fantastic fiction, but this is also a forum for all horror fiction of any kind.

We also do a Monthly Tally what members read as well as books members have Just Bought (in its 5th iteration as of this posting)

Additionally, we have several fantasy authors who have been given their own forums on SFFWorld, in which you can discuss their works or any other topic you like, as long as it's okay with the author.

Again, this is an OPEN thread, so come here to find and provide recommendations! Also, please don’t hesitate to start up new threads on particular subjects or authors in the Fantasy/Horror forum or just add to existing threads you find interesting. We want this thread to be active, lively, and un-daunting. Basically, the opposite of what the Old Recommendation Thread became. We'll keep this initial post relatively brief and continually update as we see fit.

Another author I often recommend, or have been lately, is Sean Williams. His Books of the Change series starts with The Crooked Letter, which I thought was a great amalgamation of Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and China Mieville in an apocalypic/Epic Horror situation. The series is four books long and three have been published in the US by Pyr. He crosses the fence and writes pretty solid Space Opera. His latest, though, hit the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Yes it is a Star Wars book; yes it is a video game adaptation, but Sean is a terrific writer and I've no doubt this is a solid novel which as of this post is on my to-read pile.

So other folks, don't hesitate to give little author recommendations like I did above. I'll be adding to the thread regularly with similar author blurb/summaries as well as updated links.

Lastly, if you are asking for a recommendation, give us a hint of what you like so we have something with which to work.

Often when a new author hits the scene, people want to know more about him or her. Well, Brent Weeks is new and causing something of a buzz, so check out this thread: Brent Weeks, new talent!

With Guy Gavriel Kay recently winning the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel, people may be curious about his other works.

The Fionavar Tapestry is his first major work, which has some heavy Tolkien influences. This is not too surprising since he helped Christopher Tolkien in editing some of J.R.R.'s notes and work. Essentially, Fionavar tells the story of some college pals who get swept away to a fantastical land, each becoming the avatar of a legendary hero. The story is fairly straightforward, but very dark in some spots as well.

Many of Kay's fans consider Tigana his defining and best work. The novel can rightfully be considered a modern classic and tells of a familiar land that has been all but removed from people's memory. Tigana, was in fact, our May 2003 Fantasy Book Club selection.

Kay's A Song for Arbonne is also a very good novel. The primary character, the mercenary Blaise is a man at odds with himself, his family and what his position means to the world at large. Blaise’s native land, Gorhaut, is ruled by the amoral King Ademar and the even less scrupulous High Elder and Chief Counsellor, Galbert, who also happens to be Blaise’s father. Blaise is a mercenary on a self-imposed exile besmirching his father’s name and place in Gorhaut due to a treaty Galbert set up prior to the events of the novel.

In opposition to the male dominated Gorhaut is the female ruled Arbonne. While Arbonne does not overtly oppose Gorhaut, rather Galbert has a vendetta against the woman ruled land. Arbonne has echoes of Avalon in that it is surrounded by mystery and ruled by the Goddess. The novel begins with Blaise arriving at to the courts of Arbonne in his attempt to secure the troubadour Evrard as part of his job for a local duke. Blaise becomes involved in the eventual struggle between Arbonne and his once home nation of Garhaut. As the novel progresses, Blaise and the reader learn more about Arbonne, each characters ultimate connection to Arbonne and how they will play a role in Arbonne’s destiny.

The strengths in this novel are Kay’s magnificent descriptions of all things chivalric. From Blaise’s contemplations and declarations of his honor, to the battles fought, the sword fights, and the inner dialogue characters such as Rosala has with herself, Kay instills each scene, each interaction with a depth of respect and display of veneration that ultimately brings them from page to inner eye with great flair and reverence. Kay also evokes vivid imagery and settings through the songs his troubadours sing. In all Kay displays a talent for writing these scenes and interactions as if he lived during the time period (France in the years 1000 to 1200) in which this novel is based.

Hey all, I've been reading fantasy books for a year or so now, but don't really have a large amount of experience/ idea of what good authors are out there, so I was wondering what authors you guys could recommend?

As a guideline to my taste I suppose it would be a good idea to let you know what I have read. I greatly enjoyed most of the Wheel of Time series, probably more than some since I only read it last year and didn't have to wait the almost 2 decades for the (hopefully soon to be released) ending, though I did find Winters Heart rather tedious. Knife of Dreams was good though.

I've also read all the books from Brandon Sanderson, including what he has released on his website for Warbreaker. While Elantris mostly failed to capture my interest, I quite enjoyed his Mistborn series and Warbreaker.

I've also read George RR Martins Song of Ice and Fire series, and greatly enjoyed it. I'll have to re-read it again when he releases A Dance With Dragons (though who really knows when that will be...)

Other authors I have read and enjoyed include: Ted Dekker, Elizabeth Haydon, Tolkien (of course), and I suppose I might as well admit that I enjoyed the Harry Potter series as well.

Hi Darksbane, welcome to the forums. Sounds like you've gone through some of the big names on the shelves. Here are some authors who might connect with you based on what you said you read and enjoyed:

Greg Keyes, particularly his Kingdom of Thorn and Bone trilogy. Many people call this series Martin-lite, but the series is solid, has some great characters, and is perhaps one of the most fully realized secondary worlds in Fantasy. The series is four books long and all four books are available - the series is completed. Check out these threads to get a better idea about his writing:Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone

I'd also Highly recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, the first book of which is Gardens of the Moon. Erikson is very popular around here and with our tag function, you can see all (or a great many) of the threads dedicated to his Malazan saga HERE.

I'm in the middle of Joshua Palmatier's Throne of Amenkor trilogy (The Skewed Throne being the first) and enjoying it quite a bit. It takes place in a secondary world, subtle magic like Martin and solid characterization.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've taken note of your recommendations and I'm going to go check out the bookstore in my area tomorrow and see what they have. It is a rather small store, so they might not have much, but hopefully they'll have one or more of the authors you've listed.

So I went to the store today (I'm not really one to buy books online) and all they had out of what you guys recommended was the Malazan series, so I picked up Gardens of the Moon. The clerk at the bookstore recommended Patrick Rothfuss to me, so I picked up his book The Name of the Wind, which is what I'll probably read first since it is the only one released from the series right now, and if I like Gardens I'll want to continue with that series.

Anyways, thanks again for the suggestions, I'll have to keep an eye out for the others in future trips.

I apologize for making this the third post of mine in a row, but I have finished Name of the Wind and absolutely loved it. I was wondering if there was anything that would be comparable to this for me to read? Rothfuss is an excellent writer, and truthfully the book was much better than I expected it to be. I can't wait for the next book now, it should be quite good.

Alright so as a new member who doesnt really know anyone here or their tastes I was wondering if anyone can help me.

I'm looking for something new to read in the fantasy or sci fi genres. I dont really care if it's standalone or part of a series so long as it's of a reasonable length to keep me busy for a bit.

For some insight into what kind of things I've liked in the past for comparison:

I just read Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also just finished Christopher Golden's "Veil" trilogy which I also found excellent.
I'm a big fan of Authors such as David Gemmel (sp? the Legend of Deathwalker and Waylander guy), Terry Pratchet, Terry Goodkind, Stephen R Donaldson, Larry Niven, Peter Hamilton and Neil Gaiman and have thus already read most of their respective titles.

I've tried Stephen Erikson's books and havent been able to get into them and I'm not a fan of the Wheel of Time series.

off the top of my head thats everything I can think of by way of relevant information.

If anyone can give me any good suggestions for either fantasy or sci-fi that fit in with the info i've given it'd be greatly appreciated.

Likewise i'd be happy to elaborate on why I liked any of the above books/authors if anyone is interested in picking them up or anything.

Edit: Also I forgot to mention S M Stirling under the list of authors whom i'm a fan of.

Friedman has been a published novelist/writer (at least) since her debut novel In Conquest Born was published by DAW in 1986. While a Science Fiction novel, it plays very well against the Cold War era in which the novel was written. Her second novel, also Science Fiction was The Madness Season.

However, it was with the publication of Black Sun Rising, the first installment of her Coldfire Trilogy in 1991 when she made even bigger waves. The trilogy has a fantasy feel, considering the important role magic plays in the story. However, the action of the novel actually takes place on a human-settled planet far into our future and also has gothic overtones as well as a hint of vampiric urban fantasy. These hints don't come fully into light at first, but provide a key element into the politics of the world. The other two books in the trilogy are When True Night Falls and Crown of Shadows.

Other Science Fiction novels followed: This Alien Shore a solid science fiction novel and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and The Wildling the follow-up/sequel to her first novel (In Conquest Born).

Her latest epic is The Magister Trilogy; the saga of a world divided by different methods of magic use and gender roles threatened by the return of demonic forces. The first installment, Feast of Souls was published to rather little fanfare (unfortunately) but very well received by those who read it, including myself. The second of the trilogy, Wings of Wrath, just published this month and is already accruing good word of mouth.

In all of her works (the only ones I haven't read are The Wildling and The Madness Season) she builds up a fully realized world, believable characters and manages to keep me turning the pages. Though not often mentioned in the same breath as Martin, Erikson, and Jordan as giants of Epic Fantasy, her work is consistent and most always engaging.

I would recomend Christopher Paolini to any fantasy fan. The movie, eragon did NOT do the book justice, and I would say that he is by far my favorite author

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A few days ago the movie came on TV. I watched it with a very low expectation and got positively surprised. I didn't read the book(s) nor knew any specifics but from somewhere I just had that opinion that I read it is supposed to be bad. Well it wasn't a masterpiece but enjoyable and interesting enough. There aren't that many Fantasy movies around and from those that are, it certainly wasn't the worst. The Dragon's CGI was quite well done, even if I found some movements a bit awkward. But they managed quite well to make her appear as a female Dragon and showing some emotion (though that's quite hard and is better done yet in Dragonheart, imho).

So afterwards I tried to find out why it's supposed to be bad and found out about the age of Paolini. While there are and were other young talented writers out there, I have to say I'm impressed. I don't have an immediate urge to read the book(s) now, even knowing that the plot in the movie is not the same as the one in the book, but I might pick them up somewhen. After all when I heard about the first Narnia movie, I also went out and grabbed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe fully knowing that it's a childrens book (not even YA) at the age of 27 and it wasn't the worst read of my life by far.

But i'm always a sucker for a good fantasy-romance, so i'm open to reconendations...

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Well if you're not aversed at the thought of a romance between human and dragon and some strong dragon characters, I'd recommend Elizabeth Kerner's Lanen Kaelar trilogy (Song in the Silence, The Lesser Kindred, Redeeming the Lost). Just watch out you don't accidentally grab the abridged/butchered first part that also exists.

Didn't want to start a new thread and didn't want to post in the other WoT thread since something else is being discussed, so I thought I might as well ask here.

Any of you fans/readers of Wheel of Time care to rank the novels in order of prefference? I'm on book 3, Dragon Reborn, at the moment, and curious of I what I might expect in a broad sense going forward. Don't really care much for the details (in fact would preffer no details), just a simple list ranking the novels so I can see what people feel are the strongest and weakest novels of the bunch.